


when the moon comes out

by snowandfire



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M, Requited Love, Sokka is an awkward turtleduck, but this time he plays guitar, i said what i said, no beta we die like men, sokka talks to the moon sometimes, thats right, this is based on a hindi song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27990744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowandfire/pseuds/snowandfire
Summary: [Zuko envelopes him. Sokka’s forced laughs are stifled in Zuko’s sudden embrace. He practically melts into it, his hands find their way into Zuko’s hair, the ends of it. Zuko’s holding him so tightly. Zuko’s grip on him, his heartbeat, it all says I’m here. I’m here. I’m here. Sokka wishes he could live in this moment for the rest of his life. Stretch it out forever and then remember it when he can’t fall asleep at night. He wants to say I love you and whisper it into Zuko’s neck. But for now staying right here pressed up against him might just be enough.or: sokka thinks he'll never love again, but wants someone who will stay. enter zuko stage left]
Relationships: Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), past yukka
Comments: 22
Kudos: 214





	when the moon comes out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oldpotatoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oldpotatoe/gifts).



**_When the moon comes out in the blue sky (Neele neele ambar par chaand)_ **

> _When the cool breezes ruffles the hair_

> _And the sweltering sunrays caress the cheeks_
> 
> _For the heat of breath and the softness of palms_

> _My heart longs, wishes for the touches of another_

> _When the moon comes in the blue sky_

> _It showers it’s love and makes me want_

Sometimes Sokka sits out on the grass behind the family house and plays guitar. He’s not that good at guitar. He just likes the sound of it.

Yue used to like the sound of it. She’s the reason he learned how to play. He had wanted to impress her, since the guys in the movies played guitar and that was one way to appear cool. It had all gone to shit when she talked to him after his attempt at a serenade. He had asked her if she wanted to do an activity with him. In those words exactly. Sokka had stood there and felt his cheeks heat up and started saying something about the two of them going to see some seals. Not cool at all. 

She had said yes. Seal-seeing had happened. No coolness points to be had for Sokka the entire time. Didn't matter.

The best part about Yue had been that she didn’t really care about being cool. Sure, she was beautiful and funny and could have cared about being cool. But she was just a huge dork like him. She used to laugh so hard over lunch that milk came out of her nose. She used to like lining up at bookstores to get the latest comics. She mostly took his side during arguments with Katara, which was always a plus. She fit in like a missing puzzle piece into his family. Into his life. She liked him for who he is. 

They used to lay out on the grass together in the backyard. Sokka would play a little guitar and then they would watch the moon. Yue liked to talk about worlds far away, and all the things that people here on Earth still didn’t know. She had a soft voice, but she spoke quicker when she got excited. Sokka loved everything she had to say. 

Her eyes were deep brown, almost black. Not like his or Katara’s, which were a warm chocolate. He liked looking into her eyes, rather like looking into the expanse of space. Which you would think would appear cold, but wasn’t--not in her. 

Sokka had always been nervous before big things. Big exams. Graduation. Moving from town to town on the Alaskan coast. He hadn’t been nervous to kiss her because it felt right. It was right. She was exactly right with him. 

He should have asked her to stay with him always. It’s his biggest regret in life that he didn’t. One of those nights under the stars he should have held her hands in his and told her that his biggest fear in life was losing someone he loved and he had faced it once and could not face it again. As if saying that would have made a difference. If only. 

He strums the guitar out here now alone. Without Yue the dark colors of nature and the sky are cold in the truest sense. It chills him to the bone.

Sokka doesn’t think it’s that much to ask, as he strums the guitar, not to be alone like this anymore. He had tried again with Suki, in college. Between wanting different things and going in different directions it had ended quietly if not painlessly. But he had wanted it to work. He’s not made for being alone. He’s made to give his love endlessly to another person. It’s just how he is. He feels it in his gut. What can he do if that person isn’t there? 

If Yue were here she’d ask him to sing to the moon. She was always saying whimsical things like that. In her soft voice. Still a little bit shy even though he had loved her for so long and always would.

For her sake, he does. 

The song he sings is about the dark blue of the sky. The way the moon shines down and scatters its light. Poetic stuff. Sokka’s good at poetry. Or so he thinks. Katara might disagree. 

He sings made up refrains about the partner that he wishes he had. 

_The moon comes out and gives the world it’s love, could there be a person like that?_

He sings about the way the wind ruffles his hair. He thinks of the heat of breath and the softness of palms. His body aches with want. He lets his voice carry his wishes on the wind. He doesn't think anyone is listening. 

“Katara told me I’d find you out here,” Zuko appears from behind him. He casts a long shadow in the moonlight. Sokka hadn’t even heard him come. 

He sits down to Sokka’s left, and there’s quiet for a while. Except for the rustle of the grass. The wind between the trees. And of course, the thump thump thump of Sokka's own heartbeat.

“How much of that did you hear?” Sokka asks softly. 

“I’m sorry! I should have stopped you. Or at least said that I was there. Stupid.” 

“It’s fine, just--why didn’t you?” 

“I like your voice.” 

Oh. _Oh._ Zuko’s wearing his hair down today. Loose. Completely so. The way it reflects the moonbeams is completely unfair. _Beautiful._

A part of Sokka wants to tell him to go. This is Yue’s spot, it always will be. He can’t love someone like that again only to lose them. Zuko would understand. He knows about Yue. He knows about a lot of the stuff Sokka doesn’t always tell everyone else. He gets it. 

“Uh, did you need something?” Sokka wonders aloud, just to be polite. 

There’s a look in Zuko’s eyes. A spark. Like Sokka snuck behind his eyes and struck together flint. Sokka wants him to say ‘you’. But that’s a pipe dream and it always has been. There have been whispers and more-than-casual touches. There have been near kisses, and hugs that last a few seconds too long. Maybe out of the two of them it’s Sokka who was always afraid to take the first step beyond the threshold. When Zuko laughs at his jokes Sokka remembers Yue snorting milk out of her nose. When Zuko argues with him, hard and stubborn, he remembers Yue, soft but persistent. They’re different but in the ways that matter they are the same. Yue was warm too, so warm. Sokka doesn’t know if he can love him and lose him too. 

“No,” Zuko answers, and he interlocks his fingers with Sokka’s, easily, like it’s nothing at all, “I don’t need anything.” 

The way Zuko grasps his hand feels like an anchor point. To this specific moment in time. Sokka memorizes it. The way Zuko’s hair blows in the wind. The way the moonlight shines on his face and reflects off of his scar. He has a kind face, when it comes down to it. Underneath a lot of bluster. He looks at Sokka with a tenderness that most people don’t get to see. It’s magic. 

_But that’s it then. He doesn’t need anything. He just came down here to sit with me and hold my hand but he doesn’t say that he needs anything. He doesn’t--I need--_

“I do,” Sokka says, in a choked sort of voice, “I’ve got to--nevermind. Ha! Just forget it. Just forget--” 

Zuko envelopes him. Sokka’s forced laughs are stifled in Zuko’s sudden embrace. He practically melts into it, his hands find their way into Zuko’s hair, the ends of it. Zuko’s holding him so tightly. Zuko’s grip on him, his heartbeat, it all says _I’m here. I’m here. I’m here._ Sokka wishes he could live in this moment for the rest of his life. Stretch it out forever and then remember it when he can’t fall asleep at night. He wants to say _I love you_ and whisper it into Zuko’s neck. But for now staying right here pressed up against him might just be enough. 

“I’m not that good at guitar,” Sokka admits, just to have something to say. 

“Yeah,” Zuko nods, and Sokka doesn’t see it but feels it, against his shoulder. “You’re not.” 

“I could take more lessons.” 

“Why do you want to get good?” 

“Katara might finally let me practice in the house, well no, that’s not entirely why. Girls like it right? And I think, maybe, guys do too?” 

“I do, I like it,” Zuko says, and he sighs, his warm breath raising goosebumps on Sokka’s skin. All of a sudden Sokka forgets that the past and future are a thing. There’s no rhyme or reason why he shouldn’t be kissing Zuko _now_. Before the moment slips past him and turns to dust. 

He pauses with Zuko’s face in his hands, with Zuko looking at him. His eyes reflect back the aching want from Sokka’s song. His mouth is ever so slightly agape and Sokka decides to ask him this minute. Now. Before the chance is gone. 

“I’ll stay with you!” Zuko says, closing the distance. His kiss is sweet and his hands are shaking where they linger on Sokka’s waist. Every part of him is warm and kissed by the sun. His kiss answers the last stanza of Sokka’s song. _So he was listening._

Sokka pushes him down flat against the grass and caresses his hair and kisses his forehead. His closed eyelids. His cheeks. He kisses lightly against the scar. 

“I’ll stay with you,” Zuko repeats, quieter. This time his voice is hoarse and he leans up to kiss Sokka again. “I promise.” 

Sokka knows that there aren’t any absolute promises in this world. With every touch and kiss against Zuko’s skin he knows that what he has isn’t beyond reason and doubt. But there’s something Aang once told him. Love is never really lost from the universe. It’s passed on, and bounced off from one person to the next. Reborn and reshaped from moment to moment. It gets him thinking. 

Sokka feels the kindness of the moon from above him and the love of the sun from beneath. From Zuko’s eyes and his heart. He begins to realize that maybe Yue’s love never truly left him. It’s here now. It’s his to give. 

Zuko looks up at him and his eyes are wide. His brow, for once not furrowed in stubbornness or spite. He looks innocent and open and a little bit scared. As if he doesn’t know the depth of Sokka’s love, or what comes next. 

“I love you, okay?” Sokka says in words. Then with his lips. With his fingertips stroking gently against Zuko’s cheek. With all the love that’s been bottled up in him for years and months. Love that comes into being now simply because Zuko is Zuko, Sokka is Sokka, and he’s finally where he needed to be.

Sokka doesn’t think of missing Yue now or feel that pain and fear that’s made a home inside him for longer than he can remember. He only feels the warmth of the man he loves lying next to him. 

Zuko nods, and he kisses him back. He does so softer, and gentler than ever before. He’s cautious yet steady and so completely _him_ . The one Sokka wanted. Needed. _Oh._

“Baby,” Sokka’s mind supplies, “ _Baby._ ” 

Zuko holds him tighter. Whispers that if Sokka wants, he’ll never let go. 

The want in his heart. The pull and the ache. Roars one last deafening time, then goes peacefully silent.

**Author's Note:**

> this happened in one shot at 2 am because i was emotional about flwogb and the yukka cardinal fic at the same time  
> hope you liked this (especially you ruby)  
> this fic was based on the song 'neele neele ambar par' which is what the main poem at the top is translated from, give it a listen :)


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